21
A Day Out

“Here we are!” Lauren exclaimed as we made our way inside the carnival. “I’m so excited, I haven’t been to a proper fair in a while.”

“Same,” I said, looking around the place. It was Wednesday and a week had passed since I apologized to the cheerleaders. I was almost blinded by all the bright lights everywhere. There were a bunch of red and white striped tents set up with games to play. “Where should we go first?”

“Hmm, the circus starts at five, so we have an hour and a half until then,” Lauren said, looking at her phone. “So, what activity should we do first?”

“I want to pick a duck,” Sam said, looking in the distance at a big pool with a bunch of rubber ducks in it.

“That’s like the most boring game though,” Liz said. “All you do is choose a duck and you have to pay money.”

“But we can win a prize,” Sam said, trying to justify her choice. “Plus, the rubber ducks are super cute, they're all dressed up.”

“Are they?” I asked as we walked closer to the duck game. I looked to see each of the ducks had a costume on. Some looked like Marvel characters while some had Christmas decorations on, now that we were getting close to that.

“Okay, fine, we’ll pick a duck, but only because they’re cute,” Lauren said, taking a dollar bill out of her pocket. She handed it over to the attendant and picked a duck that looked like Santa. She flipped it over to see no mark, meaning no prize. “Damn, I just wasted a dollar for nothing.”

Liz and I didn’t win anything either, but Sam flipped over her duck to see a red mark. “I won!” she said excitedly. “What do I win?”

“You win a plushie,” the attendant said. “Choose one from here.”

“I want the rabbit,” Sam said, pointing at a white bunny. She received her prize and hugged it tight. “I bet Grace would’ve had fun if she was here.”

“Yeah, yeah, you like Grace, we get it,” Liz said, rolling her eyes. “Maybe you should ship her that bunny.”

“I don’t like Grace in that way!” Sam said, blushing bright red. “And no, the bunny is mine. I’ll add him to my collection.”

“You have a collection of plushies?” I asked.

“Yeah, I have like, twenty of them,” Sam said. “They’re all on my bed, they help me sleep better.”

“That’s a lot,” I said. “I hid all my plushies a few years ago because my friends made fun of me for having them out. But I’ve taken them back out lately because they’re cute.”

“You never should’ve hid them in the first place,” Lauren said, giggling. “Plushies are the best!”

“I realize that now,” I said. I kept several plushies on my bed now, and they really did help with sleep. It was nice to hug them and they provided good company.

“Okay, next activity, where are we going?” Liz asked, looking around the carnival. “Let’s go shoot at some balloons.”

“I’m kind of scared of the dart,” Lauren said, shuddering. “What if it like goes into my eye.”

“You can be a pirate then,” Liz replied, laughing. “You can have on an eyepatch and go arr with a parrot on your shoulder.”

“I do not want to be a pirate,” Lauren said, crossing her arms.

“Why not, you’ve got the looks for it,” Liz said. “Look at how scraggly you look, when’s the last time you showered, a week ago?”

“Shut up!” Lauren said. “And for your information, I showered yesterday night.”

“Sure,” Liz said, her voice filled with doubt. “Anyways, balloons. The darts not going in your eyes Lauren, let’s just go.”

“Fine, but I’m not playing,” she said, standing off to the side. “I’m scared of the darts.”

“Guess we’ll just play then,” Liz said, handing a dollar to the attendant and picking up a dart. “Three chances, right?”

“Yeah, three chances,” I said, picking up a dart of my own. “We have to make all three to win a prize, but if we get four we get a big prize.”

“How would I get four balloons with three darts?” Liz asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Skill, which you don’t have,” Lauren yelled from the side.

“You’re not even playing, be quiet,” Liz yelled back. “Anyways, I guess you’re meant to hit multiple with one dart if that’s even possible.”

“Well, half of these games are scams so good luck,” I said, shrugging. “Come on, let’s start.”

“I can do it,” Sam said, walking around the play area to find the optimal place to shoot. There was a large board with a bunch of balloons on them. The issue was that the balloons were tiny and barely blown up at all, making them hard to hit. After a few seconds, Sam found a good position and finally shot, just to miss altogether and not hit a single balloon. “Darn.”

“I’ll show you how it’s done,” Liz said, she carefully shot a dart to have it land on a balloon. It popped with a satisfying noise, as the dart fell onto the grass.“Okay, one of three done.”

“My turn,” I said, aiming at a red balloon. I shot just to miss completely. The balloons were way too small. “This is unfair.”

“Witness my skill, little one,” Liz said, shooting another dart and making it. “That’s how it’s done.”

“How are you so good at these?” Sam asked, shooting a dart and missing. “I suck.”

“I just am,” Liz said, shrugging.

Sam and I tossed our final darts and both missed, giving us a grand total of 0/3 darts hit. I sighed, a little disappointed in myself. Liz, as expected, made the final dart.

“What’s my prize?” she asked, excitedly. “I won!”

“Here,” the attendant, a disinterested teenage boy, said. He handed Liz a small mochi squishy toy.

“I don’t get a plushie?” Liz asked.

“Sorry, that’s the big prize,” he replied, shrugging.

“I’m pretty sure I can buy this for a dollar,” Liz grumbled, clearly unhappy with the prize.

“If you don’t want it, you can give it to me, it’s rather cute,” I said, looking at the cute little turtle.

“Yeah, sure, you take it, Katie,” Liz said, tossing me the toy.

“I’ll put it on my desk,” I said, slipping it in my pocket. Did I mention this skirt had a pocket? It was nice.

“Yeah, it can be your little study buddy,” Sam said. “I have my pet hamster on my desk too, he helps me focus.”

“When did you have a pet hamster?” I asked, raising my eyebrows. I didn’t remember Sam saying anything about a hamster before.

“For two years now, he’s getting up there in age,” Sam replied. “I just don’t mention him much because he’s a little boring. All he does is kind of sit there and sometimes run around on his wheel.”

“I don’t have any pets,” Lauren said, finally rejoining the group now that we were done throwing darts. “I really want a dog though, they’re so fluffy and cute.”

“You forget about the superiority of cats,” Liz said, puffing out her chest. “The feline is a far better animal compared to the canine.”

“Both are good,” Sam said.

“I like dogs a little more personally,” I said, shrugging. “But cats are cool too.”

“That’s because your personality is very dog,” Liz observed.

“What is that meant to mean?” I asked.

“You’re like all peppy and stuff, it’s very dog,” she said. “Meanwhile I’m more sarcastic, like a cat.”

“I guess that makes sense,” I mumbled. “Do you all want to go on the Ferris wheel next?”

“Is that really all that fun?” Lauren asked, looking at the Ferris wheel that was set up on the edge of the carnival. “All you do is sit inside and it circles around.”

“It’s got to be more fun than the duck game,” Liz said.

“Hey!” Sam said, crossing her arms. “The duck game was fun, and I got Mr. Fluffy from it too.”

“You named the plushie?” Liz asked, giggling. “Mr. Fluffy.”

“All my plushies get a personalized name and personality,” Sam said. “Mr. Fluffy is a very kind and sweethearted bunny.”

“Come on, let’s get on the Ferris wheel already, the line’s getting longer,” I said, pointing at the increasingly long line.

“Fine, let’s go,” Lauren said, as we all began walking over. We waited a few minutes before finally getting to the front of the line.

“This ride doesn’t seem that safe,” Sam said as we climbed into the capsule. “It’s like creaking.”

“I think that’s normal,” I said, peeking out of the window to hear the ride groaning. “But it is a little scary.”

“I swear if I die because of a Ferris wheel I’m haunting all of you,” Liz said.

“The only thing scarier than Liz now is a Liz ghost,” Lauren said, laughing.

“Boo!” Liz said all of a sudden, turning to Lauren. Lauren jumped a little, clearly surprised, making the entire capsule shake. “God that reaction, that was priceless.”

“Hey, that was not funny,” Lauren said, crossing her arms.

“Sure,” Liz said, rolling her eyes. “Anyway, the ride is starting up now.”

The entire Ferris wheel creaked as it started moving. Sam stared out of the window, with both of her hands on the glass. I just sat slightly kicking my legs back and forth and looked at the view.

“This carnival is a lot bigger than I thought it would be,” Lauren said. “Look at the circus tent too, it’s massive.”

“It is massive,” Sam said, fascinated. “Being up this high is a little scary though.”

“I wouldn’t be scared if this ride didn’t look so old,” Liz said, looking at the rusted bolts that held the ride together. “This thing is like, a relic.”

“What, scared you’ll fall, Liz?” Lauren asked, smirking.

“Not as scared as you are of me,” Liz replied.

“I’m not scared of you at all,” Lauren said.

“Sure, you say that, but you jumped when I yelled boo,” Liz said. “Clearly you are afraid of the great and mysterious Elizabeth.”

“You literally yelled that in my ear, how would I not be scared?” Lauren asked.

“Katie wasn’t scared,” Liz said, shrugging.

“Katie didn’t have boo yelled into her ear,” Lauren said.

“Guys, the ride is over,” I said, looking as the capsule doors opened up. The Ferris wheel only rotated around once, although I suppose that should’ve been expected with how cheap it was to ride.“You wasted all your time arguing instead of enjoying it.”

“Oh,” Liz said, frowning. “I didn’t realize it’d be over so quickly.”

***

We played a couple more carnival games while waiting for the circus to start, and time went faster than I expected. Before I even knew it, it was time for the circus to begin. We all herded up in line and made our way in, getting into our seats.

“Crap, did any of us remember to get food?” Lauren asked.

“I don’t think so,” I said.

“Darn, what’s a circus without some popcorn?” Liz asked, looking disappointedly at the lack of food. “I can’t believe we forgot to get food.”

“It’s okay, I brought some gummy worms,” Sam said, pulling out a packet of gummy worms from her jeans.

“You’re a lifesaver, Sam,” Lauren said, ripping open the wrapper, taking a gummy worm, and eating it.

“You just had gummy worms sitting in your pocket this entire time?” Liz asked, squinting her eyes in confusion.

“Yeah,” Sam replied, rubbing her chin. “Why did I bring gummy worms again?”

“I don’t know, but I’m glad you did,” Lauren said, taking another gummy worm and stuffing it in her mouth.

“Hey, you’re going to eat the whole thing,” I said, reaching over and taking one of the snacks and eating it.

“Sorry, too good,” Lauren said, not even having finished eating.

“Oh, hey, the show’s starting,” Sam said, as we all focused on the main stage. An announcer yelled into a microphone, welcoming us to the show. They first started off the circus with some acrobatics.

“I wish I was that flexible,” Lauren mumbled, watching an acrobat stretch her body in a rather impressive way.

“Maybe do some exercise, get rid of that flabby tummy of yours,” Liz said, poking at Lauren’s belly.

“For your information, I don’t have a flabby tummy and I do plenty of exercise,” Lauren said, rolling her eyes.

We kept on watching the circus, Liz and Lauren quipping back and forth to one another. After a while, some clowns came out on stage, much to Liz’s delight. “Oh my God, it’s finally you Lauren,” Liz said, standing up and cheering for the clowns.

“That’s not me!” Lauren exclaimed, annoyed. “And sit down, people in the back will complain.”

“But I have to cheer for my best friend,” Liz said, sitting back down.

“It’s embarrassing, stop,” Lauren said.

“Fine, fine,” Liz said, sighing as she sat back in her seat. “Let’s see what these clowns have to offer.”

The clowns had a decent bit to offer, as they put on a pretty fun show. Liz kept on cheering on Lauren, saying she was one of the clowns, much to her annoyance. After that, there were a few more acts before the show ended.

***

“That was pretty fun,” Lauren said as we exited the circus tent. “I think that’s it, they’re packing everything up now.”

I looked around to see that all the tents and games were being cleaned up, as today was the last day the circus would be here. It was a little weird to think that this busy place would return to being an empty field in just a few hours.

“Darn, I wanted to play a few more games before going,” Liz said, sighing in disappointment. “Whatever, we should all go home now.”

“Yeah, I’ll call my mom, I’m sure she’ll arrive soon,” Sam said, taking her phone out of her pocket and tapping away at it. We all took a minute to call our parents to pick us up, spreading out so our voices wouldn’t mix and then got back together.

“It’ll take ten minutes for my mom to come,” Sam said, as we made our way to the road. “So I guess I’ll have to wait.”

“About fifteen for me,” I said. “It’s a little cold though, maybe I should’ve dressed-”

“What is this?” Liz asked loudly, interrupting us all. She was looking at her phone, with her mouth slightly agape. “What the hell?”

“What?” I asked, peeking over her shoulder to see what it was. I wondered what was so important that she spoke so loudly. Did someone just die or something?

“This guy named Jack sent me a DM,” Liz said, as I felt my blood run cold. I began to read the message, my heart beating so fast that it was about to escape right out of my chest.

“Hey, you all know “Katie” that girl at your school that mysteriously showed up?” the message read. “Well, she is actually a he and used to go to Grandview. Yeah, you heard that right, he’s actually a guy. He moved to your school because he and I stole some panties from the cheerleaders and got expelled. Not my fault the school was so sensitive about it, but whatever. You all know the truth now.”

Below were some photos attached of Jack and me, which were pretty clear proof that everything he just said was true.

“Katie, wow, did he just expose you to everybody?” Liz asked, looking at me with concern all over her face.

“I got the message too,” Lauren said, checking her phone. “It looks like he sent it to everyone on your friend list, I’m getting messages asking about you.”

“Fuck,” I murmured under my breath, staggering my way over to a bench and taking a seat. My friends followed me, Sam putting a hand on my shoulder to steady me. I buried my face in my hands, not quite being able to believe what just happened. Jack just ruined everything. Everything. What was I going to do now?